Monday, April 4, 2011

Toasted Oatmeal Cookies

The last chocolate chip cookies I made, that I LOVED, were from my ancient Better Homes & Gardens cookie book. I was so impressed with that recipe that I had to try another recipe from that book. Here it is! Toasted oatmeal cookies! I made mine into oatmeal raisin but their recipe had called for chopped dates. I prefer raisins. I figured that these would be crunchy cookies. I guess because I toasted the oatmeal first - I was thinking like granola type crispness. I don't know why I assumed that but these were very very soft & chewy. No crispness at ALL. These cookies have so much flavor. Really deep flavor with all the right spices. I feel that the nutmeg was a bit too strong. Still wonderful but I would reduce the nutmeg by 1/2 next time & maybe up the cinnamon amount a bit. I can't say that toasting the oatmeal made that much difference in the flavor but they were definitely delicious. Actually, for being oatmeal cookies, these really don't contain that much oatmeal. And because the cookies have shortening in them instead of butter, that is another reason I thought that they might be crisp. Not sure why the recipe calls for shortening and not butter but I used the plain white Crisco. I'm sure butter would work just fine also.

So if you like your cookies soft & chewy with a good amount of spice, then these are your kind of cookie!

1. SPRINKLE oats in a shallow baking pan. Bake in a 375 oven about 10 minutes or till lightly toasted, stirring once. Place in bowl. Stir in sour milk or buttermilk and let stand a few minutes 2. BEAT together brown sugar and shortening till combined. Add baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; beat till combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla till combined. Stir in oat mixture. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Stir in raisins. Drop by teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet. 3. BAKE in a 375 degree oven about 10 minutes or till edges are golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Can I add some semi sweet chocolate chips? If I add some do I have to decrease the sugar content of the cookie? I really need to know since my kids don’t like raisins but I do like to have it so I decided to just add chocolate chips.

No, you do not have to decrease the sugar in these cookies if you want to use chocolate chips instead of raisins. Just omit the raisins and toss in semi sweet or milk chocolate chips insteand BUT if you ARE going to use the chocolate, I would also omit the nutmeg & cinnamon. Keep the vanilla in there though. I bet the oatmeal chocolate chip combination would be really wonderful. let me know if you make them and what you think.

Heidi

My name is Heidi. I live in Seattle and I love to bake. Please take your time and browse my collection of baking recipes & experiments. Most of them good....some...well, not so good. I'm honest with my reviews so you know what to avoid! Please email me if you have questions or just want to chat! I'd love to hear from you. nillanamba@gmail.com